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Thursday, 29 August 2013

Almost 60 per cent of all children born in London last year were to mothers from outside the UK, official figures showed today.

More than 77,000 babies — 57.4 per cent of the total — had mothers
who were born overseas, a slight increase on 2011 when there were 75,380
babies (56.7 per cent).
This compares to the UK average for 2012
of a quarter of all births — reflecting higher immigration to the
capital and higher birth rates among some immigrant communities.
Overall
there were 134,186 babies born in London last year, up from 132,843 the
previous year. UK-born mothers had 57,105 babies.
Newham remained the local authority with the highest proportion — 76.7 per cent — of births to non-UK born women.
It was followed by Westminster on 71.7 per cent and Kensington and Chelsea on 71.3 per cent.
The
lowest proportion was in the outer London boroughs of Havering, on 23.8
per cent, Bromley, on 28.8 per cent, and Bexley, on 29.8 per cent.
Since
2001, London has consistently shown the highest level of births to
foreign-born mothers, with the North-East of England the lowest.
Outside
London, Slough had the highest proportion of new babies with mothers
from overseas on 60.2 per cent, followed by Luton on 53.4 per cent.
Overall,
mothers from the European Union accounted for the most new births, with
19,614 from “old” EU countries and 12,713 from accession states.
More than 26,200 new mothers were from the Middle East and Asia and 19,322 from African countries.
Across
the UK, Poland remains the most common country of birth for foreign
mothers while Romania moved into the top 10 for the first time,
replacing China.
Pakistan remains the most common country of birth
for fathers born overseas, with Romania again moving into the top 10,
edging out Ghana.
Last year, three-quarters of foreign-born
mothers were married when they had their babies, compared with just 45
per cent of British-born mothers, reflecting cultural differences and
the numbers of immigrants who marry British men.
London’s
population went up 146,000 last year, to almost 7.9 million, with the
largest numbers of arrivals coming from elsewhere within the UK
(117,000), India (27,000), Poland (19,000), Pakistan and Bangladesh
(both 18,000) and Ireland (17,000).
Nationally, there was a net
flow of 176,000 long-term migrants coming to the UK last year, slightly
lower than estimated. Overall 497,000 people immigrated, down from
566,000 the previous year.
These included an estimated 260,000
non-EU citizens — including a significant increase in Chinese students —
and 155,000 from within the EU, including 58,000 from the new accession
countries including Poland. Some 321,000 people left the UK, including
181,000 for work-related reasons, with Australia, India, the US, Poland
and France the top destinations.